Kia cee’d certified as ‘environmentally-friendly’ by TÜV

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2008-04-28 15:33

Seoul--(뉴스와이어)--Kia Motors Corporation has been presented with two significant international certificates which confirm that the design and manufacturing processes behind the successful Kia cee’d are indeed ‘environmentally-friendly.’

The globally recognized, German-based, TuV NORD presented Kia with a DFE (Design for Environment) and a LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) environment certificate at a special ceremony in Seoul, Korea, last Friday (25 April) after rigorous inspection of the company’s design and manufacturing operations at Zilina in Slovakia. The Kia cee’d, which was designed for and made in Europe at Zilina, is the first Korean brand car to receive such recognition.

“The awarding of two international environment certificates for the Kia cee’d and its excellent 5-Star rating in EuroNCAP crash testing are first-time achievements for a Korean automotive company of which we can all be proud,” commented Mr. Hyoung-Keun Lee, Senior Executive Vice President and COO, International Business Division of Kia Motors Corporation.

“Our Zilina facility was environmentally certified in 2007 and later this year we will start manufacturing cee’d vehicles with fuel-stretching and CO2 reducing technologies from our experimental eco_cee’d line-up, further underlining Kia’s strong and continuing drive to minimize its impact on the environment,” concluded Mr. Lee.

DFE (ISO 14062) evaluates a car’s environmental friendliness during its design and development, plus the ease with which the car can be disassembled and its level of recyclability. DFE also requires that the assembly plant for the car reaches ISO 14001.

LCA (ISO 14040) examines both the car’s overall manufacturing process and its lifetime environmental impact, including choice of materials - the cee’d features lightweight all-aluminium engines (weighing 15 kg less) and Kenaf recycled materials form its door trim panels - and measures to reduce fuel consumption and engine exhaust emissions.

Last year, Kia’s all-new car and engine manufacturing plant in Zilina was certified as an ‘environmentally-friendly’ facility when Kia Motors Slovakia (KMS), which operates the plant, was officially presented with an ISO 14001 international certificate of environmental management. Many of the production and waste-management technologies in operation at Zilina are among the very best available in the world, with a minimised impact on the environment.

“When launching vehicle and component production, we focused our attention on observing all environmental regulations and norms and abiding by all laws, in both spirit and letter,” explained KMS President In-Kyu Bae. “Personally, I am very glad we had a chance to prove our commitment to being ‘environmentally-friendly’ and to having this clearly confirmed by receiving the internationally renowned environmental certificate ISO 14001 within a year from the launch of volume production in December 2006.”

TuV NORD and its partner TuV companies employ a staff of more than 8,000 engineers who carry out regulatory and environmental inspections and audits across a variety of industries. TuV NORD environmental certificates are not easily earned. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class (2005) and C-Class (2006) achieved both DFE and LCA recognition, while Volkswagen’s Passat and Golf (2007) earned an LCA evaluation.

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Kia Motors Corporation (www.kia.com) -- a maker of quality vehicles for the young-at-heart -- was founded in 1944 and is Korea's oldest manufacturer of motor vehicles. As part of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, Kia aims to become one of the world's premier automotive brands. More than 1.4 million vehicles a year are produced in 14 manufacturing and assembly operations in eight countries which are then sold and serviced through a network of distributors and dealers covering 165 countries. Kia today has over 40,000 employees worldwide and annual revenues of almost US$17 billion. It is the major sponsor of the Australian Tennis Open and an official worldwide sponsor of the Davis Cup. Kia is an official automotive partner of FIFA -- the governing body of the FIFA World Cup -- as well as a EUROTOP partner of UEFA. Kia Motors Corporation's brand slogan -- "The Power to Surprise" -- represents the company's global commitment to surpassing customer expectations through continuous automotive innovation.

웹사이트: http://www.kiamotors.com